Dawn
by MirellaArabesque
Summary: It's the morning after the rumble, and everything has changed. AnybodysxIce, Anybodys' POV.


Disclaimer: I don't own WSS or any of the characters.

A/N: Hmmmm. Not sure I like this one, but I guess I'll post it anyway. I was proud of myself for writing a het pairing for once.... They're a bit OOC, but I think that's excusable considering it's the morning after the rumble.

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Ice. He was ice. His eyes, his attitude, even the planes of his face were cold and hard. On the surface.

I knew better. I saw him sitting on Doc's stoop before dawn the day after the rumble. His policy of 'stay cool' was abandoned.

I was just walking around, not wanting to go home and too numb to go looking for trouble. I had a box of cigarettes and I was smoking one, letting the smoke in my lungs calm me. Somehow I found myself on the street by the candy store and saw that there was someone on the steps in front of it.

I whistled low and then high, and an identical whistle was returned, so I figured it was safe to approach. It wasn't until I was about ten feet away that I realized it was Ice. I'd never seen him cry before, so his screwed-up eyes and heaving chest made him look unfamiliar.

"Shit!" he swore when he saw me, turning quickly.

"Ice?" I said quietly. His shoulders slumped, and he didn't answer. "Whatcha crying for?" He remained silent, except for panting and gasping as he tried to get control of himself.

"Come on, Ice, it's okay," I soothed, sitting down next to him. If he hadn't been nice to me last night I probably would have made fun of him. Now I felt strangely protective. "Go ahead and cry; I've already seen you."

He burst into tears again, and I was shocked. Ice- the impenetrable Ice, the solid, steady Ice, whose philosophy was "stay cool"- was sobbing next to me. I placed a tentative hand on his back, feeling his rough, uneven breathing through my palm. His sobs turned to quick, hyperventilating gasps, and after a moment he started to choke.

Before I knew what was happening he was leaning forwards, throwing up violently onto the sidewalk. Alarmed now, I put an arm around his shoulders and steadied him, trying not to yell as I asked, "Ice? Ice, are you okay?" We didn't need two hysterical teenagers, and I was struggling desperately to stay calm.

Finally he was finished, and he leaned back against the steps and closed his eyes for a minute. Once he got his breath back (though tears continued to slide down his cheeks) he opened his eyes and weakly said, "Yeah."

"Yeah what?" I said, confused.

He looked up. "You asked if I was okay."

"Oh. Right." I waited for a minute and then said, "I guess we're all pretty shaken up, huh?"

"You don't have to do that," he muttered, pushing sweaty bangs off of his forehead.

"Do what?"

"Pretend like it's okay that I'm doing this, like you don't think I'm a sissy now."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "I don't think that. I know Ri-Riff and Tony were your buds," I stuttered, surprised at how hard it was to get the names out, "and that we're all mentally screwed up right now."

Ice chuckled half-heartedly. "Well, what else is new?" I smiled.

After a moment, I asked, "So where did this come from? I thought your way of life was 'stay cool.'"

"It has a minor flaw," he sighed. "You can bottle it up for a while, but sooner or later it's all gonna come out. Sometimes literally," he added, gesturing at the puddle of puke on the sidewalk.

"So this happens a lot?" I scooted closer to him and threw an arm around his shoulders.

He jerked away at the contact, suddenly angry. "What's the matter with you? Why are you being so _nice_ to me, you little slut?"

"What?" I whispered. I felt my eyes widen.

"You should be laughing at me for being a sissy," he yelled. "How can you be so nice when Riff and Tony are dead? We went through that whole rumble and we didn't even _win_!It was _pointless_! And you aren't even one of us- you act like you're tough, but you're just a girl, and barely even that! You don't belong here or anywhere, so just go the hell away!"

I was too stunned even to think of a smart reply. I could feel my heart wrench in my chest as I turned and walked away, and that's when I realized what this emotion was. Ever since he told me "You done good, buddy boy" last night, I had been inexplicably happy. Even with Riff and Tony dead, there was a part of me, buried very deep, that was singing. When he yelled at me then, and I felt my chest sear as if I was the one stabbed instead of Riff or shot instead of Tony, I knew that I was in love with him.

I think maybe if I had yelled back, Ice would have let me go. But he was broken, and I was broken, and I think seeing me broken was too much for him. As I turned the street corner, I heard him yell, "God dammit, Anybodys!" and then there were running footsteps behind me. He fell in line with my steps and said, "I'm sorry."

Shrugging, I looked away. "Aw, go find your gang and act like a big tough man."

"Look, Anybodys…" he placed a hand on my shoulder. I stopped walking and turned to stare at him, trying very hard to look annoyed. "I'm sorry. This doesn't happen a lot, but every now and then, when it gets too much, I just explode like this. I can't control it, and you know I didn't mean that stuff. I'm just embarrassed that you saw me crying."

"So maybe 'stay cool' isn't the best philosophy after all."

"It works fine while it's working. But it's a cycle, and when you get too much bottled up, you snap. I snapped, Anybodys, and I'm sorry."

A few tears leaked out of my eyes, and I wiped them away quickly. "You're fine," I sighed. We turned and started walking back to Doc's. After a few seconds I added, "And I don't think you're a sissy."

He laughed dryly. "I do." We didn't talk the rest of the way back to the step, but I offered him a cigarette, and he took it, pulled a lighter out of his pocket, and began to smoke.

After we had sat back down on the steps- Ice far on one side and me on the other- he asked, "Could you, um, not tell the guys?" I rolled my eyes but agreed, and we were silent. I was still a little pissed off at him, so I wasn't sure I wanted to talk anymore, but at the same time I never wanted to leave this step, I was so happy to have a one-on-one conversation with him. When that thought struck me I could have slapped myself, I was so disgusted. Since when had I acted like such a _girl_?

"You okay?" he asked, and I realized I had been glaring at the ground, arms crossed.

I nodded. "Just thinking…. Hey, what's gonna happen to the Jets now?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I guess we'll keep our turf, but I don't know what the P.R.s will do."

"Oh. That too. But what I meant was, with Riff and Tony gone, who's gonna lead you guys? I mean, you were sort of the leader last night, but will you do it permanently?"

"I dunno; Action might want to do it," Ice said. He looked at me through the corner of his eyes, almost like he was testing to see what my reaction would be.

"No way, Ice, he can't do it!" I shook my head. "Action's a good fighter, but his temper'll screw you all. You gotta lead `em."

Ice grinned, and I saw that I had passed his test. My annoyance went down a notch. "I agree with you- not about me, but about his temper. I know somebody eles's gotta do it, but Action's head is the size of Canada. Anybody who suggests making someone else the leader had better be prepared to get their face punched in. He thinks he's entitled to a try."

"Ice…" I began.

"Hmm?"

"Riff picked you for the rumble. I think you've got a fair shot. Tiger and Baby John and A-Rab'll side with you, probably. You've just gotta make `em see- 'cause if Action does it, the gang'll fall apart."

"What about you?" he asked. "Who'll you side with?"

"Me?"

"Well, yeah. You got somebody else in mind?"

"Doesn't matter. Nobody'll listen," I huffed, picking at my shoelace.

Ice stared. "Anybodys, after what you did last night, you're one of us now. If anyone has a problem with that, they can deal with me."

I looked up. "I'm in?" He nodded. "I'm a Jet?" He nodded again. "I'm a Jet!" I leapt off the steps and danced around on the sidewalk, laughing and spinning in circles, doing flips, walking on my hands. "I'm a Jet, Ice, I'm a Jet!" I pulled him up, jumping up and down with my hands on his shoulders.

When I finally calmed down, Ice laughed and we both sat on the stoop. "Ice?" I panted. He turned to look at me. "You've got my vote."

"Thanks, Anybodys." His eyes never left my face, and there was something in them I'd never seen before- at least directed to me. I'd seen it in movies, and when Riff looked at Graziella, and sometimes even when Ice looked at Velma. But seeing him look at me that way made me do something I would never have done otherwise.

I reached up, took his face in my hands, and kissed him. And Ice kissed back.

I pulled away first, running a thumb over his lower lip. "What about Velma?" I asked, and my voice sounded strangled, like my throat had constricted.

"Well, she's an idiot," laughed Ice. I grinned, and he pulled me close for a hug. His heart was drumming; I could feel it as I rested my head on his shoulder. But by now people were starting to appear on the streets, and he slipped his arm over my shoulders and I put mine around his waist, and we started off down the sidewalk.

"Anybodys?"

"Yeah?" My throat had apparently returned to its normal size, but now my words were more high-pitched than usual.

"So does this mean you don't like girls?" For a minute I looked up at him, surprised, but he gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze to let me know he was joking. I laughed, and we kept on walking as the sun rose.


End file.
